


You'll Never Believe us

by Secondgenerationnerd



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: CROSSOVER!!!, Canon Divergence, F/M, Kick ass kids, Multiverse, OCs - Freeform, Savitar doesn't exisit, minor mama!Iris
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2018-10-28 06:32:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10825719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Secondgenerationnerd/pseuds/Secondgenerationnerd
Summary: It's a normal day at S.T.A.R Labs when a breech opens up. What happens when the team meets the young heroes that come through?





	1. Who the hell are you?

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, beautiful people! Welcome to the demon I have been writing for months now and still have not finished. Originally was going to post this as a one shot, but it got way too effing long. Gonna break up what I have so far.

It starts like any other day. Barry and Iris wake up in their loft earlier than they really need to. Barry rolls over to see the love of his life, her hair carefully wrapped up. He lets his eyes fall over her still form. It still shocks him every day when he wakes up next to her. How did he get this lucky? Iris smiles at him, thinking the same thing. Once they’re able to pull themselves from the comforts of their bed, they go about their usual routine. Iris goes to shower while he fixes breakfast. A kiss is stolen as he hands her coffee mug. They talk about the unimportant things- coworkers, neighbors, science that she doesn’t understand but makes him look so adorable. Barry uses his speed to clean up and they go change. Iris keeps looking at her boyfriend as he gets dressed. His sense of style is both a blessing and a curse. She hates that he hides his body in, well, dorky clothing. But some part of her understands that’s just how Barry is and makes her love him even more. Besides, in her extremely biased opinion, he looks better when he isn’t wearing anything.

            Once they’re ready, they head over to S.T.A.R. labs. It’s become a habit now to meet there even when there’s no actual world threatening thing happening. Both of them walk into the room, hand in hand, and find Cisco, HR, and Caitlin talking to Joe and Wally.

            “Hey, guys!” Iris smiles brightly,” I hope we’re not late.”

            “Nah, you’re good. Just going over the Kid Flash uniform with Wally,” Cisco reminds them all of a child-like genius. He’s very cute with a round face and long dark hair, but _man_ could he talk. They start their usual meeting- metas they’re still tracking, training, tests Caitlin wants to run. Everything is going fine until the alarms go off. Cisco yells in defeat,” OH COME ON!!”

            “Is someone breaking in?” Caitlin asks.

            “No, looks like breech activity in the speed lab.” Barry takes off with a crack, Wally close behind. The speed lab is a bonus from Barry’s creation of Flashpoint. Used primarily to track a speedster’s vitals and speed, it’s typically empty during the day. Now, two teens are on the ground, groaning in pain.

            “You know, big brother,” The girl says,” I don’t like it when you crash in Jump City-”

            “Shut. Up.” The boy sits up. He’s about 18, with light red hair and sharp gray eyes. Freckles run all over his tan face and long arms,” Sis, we have company.”

            The girl jumps to her feet. In an instant, she has a compound bow drawn with 2 arrows aimed right at them. She doesn’t look anything like the boy, except for her skin. Her hair is blonde, braided passed her waist. Her eyes are a fiery green. The boy, before Barry or Wally can really move, grabs her arm.

            “Really, little sister?” he scolds,” You want to point that thing at someone without knowing who they are?”

            “Reflex. Sorry,” The last part is directed at the speedsters in front of them.

            “Freeze!” Joe enters with his gun pointed at the teens. Cisco follows with a plasma cannon. Iris, HR, and Caitlin follow closely. There’s a loud crack followed by a blur of yellow lightning. Joe and Cisco find themselves unarmed. The boy expertly unloads both weapons and sets them down in front of him.

            “How-” Barry’s voice dies in his throat.

            “I don’t like guns,” They boy says simply.” I think we’re getting off on the wrong foot.”

            “That’s one way to put it,” The girl grumbles. The boy ignores her.

            “I’m Matthew West,” Everyone freezes. West. The word hangs in the air. Matthew doesn’t seem to notice,” You can call me Matthew or Matt. I answer to either. This is my little sister-”

            “Jania West,” Jania returns the arrow in her bow into a quiver on her back. Little is not how they would describe her. They couldn’t be more than a year or two apart in age. The two look almost nothing alike, but they hold themselves the same way. Heads held high and shoulders relaxed. Iris notes that neither of them is dressed for Central City in winter. Matt’s green shirt and basketball shorts have tiny pepper holes on them. Just like some of Barry’s clothes. Jania’s black, high-waisted shorts and red crop top are well worn and covered in paint splatters.

            Cisco unfreezes first,” I’m sorry, but did you say your last name was West?”

            “Yeah,” Jania arches an eyebrow. The way she does it seems familiar.

            “It’s Dad’s last name,” Matt says,” I don’t know how things work here, but-”

            “Your dad?” Joe asks,” Who’s your dad?”

            Both teens swell with pride as they answer,” Wally West.”

            Wally damn near collapses. Matt moves quickly, yellow lightning following him as he catches Wally,” Hey, you ok, dude?”

            “You’re a speedster!” HR exclaims. He’s been uncharacteristically quiet.

            “Yeah,” Matt seems bewildered at his reaction,” You all have speedsters here?”

            “Do you know our Uncle Barry?” Jania asks.

            “Your U-uncle Barry? You mean Barry Allen?” Barry asks. Jania nods,” He’s your uncle?”

            Jania laughs. It’s a bright warm belly laugh,” God, I hope so. He’s married to our Aunt Iris.”

            “Aunt Iris?” It finally dawns on the West kids that something is amiss. They exchange a look.

            “What are your names?” Matt asks. Everyone hesitates.

            “What harm can we do?” Jania asks,” We’ve been honest so far.”

            With little confidence in the statement, they reluctantly tell the two their names. Jania and Matt begin speaking, in short, fragmented sentences.

            “How the-”

            “I’m not sure. The odds-”

            “Astronomical. Dad-”

            “Not Dad. Mom-”

            “Doubtful. Linda-”

            “Maybe. Dawn-”

            “And Donny. Too early-”

            “Two years-”

            “Not married-”

            “Engaged-” Barry and Iris get the unpleasant feeling that the teens are talking about them.

            “Hold up,” Cisco interrupts the two,” First, who are you talking about and how the hell do you two understand each other?”

            “For the second question, we’re clever.” Jania says,” And Mom jokes that we share a brain.”

            “As for that first question,” Matt rubs the back of his neck,” That’s a little more complicated.”

            “Try us,” Cisco challenges. They both raise an eyebrow at him.

            “Ok,” Matt points at Joe,” Joe is our great grandfather. He has two kids. Our Grandpa Rudy and our Great Aunt Iris. Grandpa Rudy married our Grandma Mary and they had our dad, Wally. Dad married our mom, Artemis Crock. Then they had us. I’m older than Jania.”

            “Aunt Iris married Uncle Barry. They have our cousins, Dawn and Donovan Allen. We call Donovan Donny.” Jania says.

“Wait, we have kids?” Iris asks. She and Barry hadn’t even started talking about marriage let alone kids.

“Yeah. Dawn and Donny are twins who are four to five years older than us.” Jania tells her.

“Dad said the look on Uncle Barry’s face when the twins showed signs of the powers was the perfect mix of joy and horror. Uncle Barr got his revenge when I got my powers,” Matt laughs. His laugh sounds just like Jania’s.

“Cisco and Caitlin are Uncle Barry’s friends at S.T.A.R. Labs. They do yearly tests on us. Cisco made a baby formula for us to help with our metabolisms-”

“We need to eat a lot,” Matt says.

“They’re really cool. We even call them Uncle Cisco and Aunt Caitlin.” Jania looks at HR,” Don’t know you though.”

“Well, I’m Harrison Wells, my dear. You can call me HR. And might I just say you are-” He places a hand on her shoulder. Jania judo flips him. He lands hard and Cisco has to hold back a laugh,” Ow.”

“Jani-” Matt scolds.

“He-”

“Doesn’t-”

“You’d do-”

“No-”

“Yes-”

“God that’s gonna get old really quickly,” Joe says.

“I have a question,” Caitlin points at Jania,” Are you a speedster as well? If both your cousins and your brother have it-”

“See you think that genetics would work like that but it doesn’t. I am not a metahuman, just a badass with a bow, like my mom.” Jania smiles proudly.

“Uncle Ollie will be thrilled to hear that,” Matt snickers. Jania sticks her tongue out at him.

“Uncle Ollie…” Barry says slowly,” You don’t happen to mean Oliver Queen?”

“Cool, they have the Green Arrow here,” Matt says.

“We never said anything about the Green Arrow-” Barry protests.

Matt gives him a small smile,” No offense, Uncle Barry, but why else would you know him? Unless on this earth he’s the Mayor of Star City.”

Both kids laugh until they see the seriousness on the other people’s faces. They turn to each other and say,” You get to tell him that.”

“Ok, aside from that... bizarre bit of information about your earth, I have a question,” Jania says,” What year is it?”

“It’s February 2018.” The smiles slide right off Matt and Jania’s faces.

“Shit,” Matt runs his hands through his hair.

“I’m gonna kill whoever-”

“Whoever? Jania, it was-”

“I know, but he can’t run _that_ -”

“Going back in time-”

“Nothing compared to-”

“Ay Dios mío,” Cisco exclaims,” Enough of that. Y’all are giving me a headache.”

“Sorry. It’s just… we’re not from here.”

“Yeah,” Iris says,” we put that together.”

“No, it’s not like,” Matt seems to get frustrated as he thinks,” You all have heard of the theory of the multiverse, right?”

“Heard it, proved it, got the t-shirt,” Cisco nods at HR,” He’s from another earth.”

“You know that actually explains a lot,” Jania murmurs under her breath.

“Anyway, on our Earth, there are all sorts of metas and heroes who work to protect the world. The first heroes, including our uncles, are part of this group called the Justice League. They had proteges about 25 years ago. Those proteges became our parents and aunts/uncles. Jania and I are legacies, meaning our parents were heroes before us,” Matt explains.

“The reason Matt and I are freaking out is because we weren’t just sent to a different earth,” Jania rubs her eyes in frustration,” We were sent back in time.”

“What?” They’ve all seen a lot of weird things over the last three years, but this takes the cake,” When is it for you all?”

“... August 2038,” Jania admits after a brief pause.

“I’m sorry,” Cisco makes a T with his hands,” So you two are his kids,” He points at Wally,” and their great niece and nephew,” He points at Barry and Iris,” from a different Earth… in the freaking future.”

“Well when you say it like that, it sounds crazy,” Matt says,” but yeah, basically. If you want to run tests to confirm our story, I’m more than willing to participate.”

“Same,” Jania doesn’t sound as happy to comply but doesn’t argue.

“Ok, Well,” Cisco looks at Caitlin and HR,” Our day just got full.”

“I’m gonna call Oliver, see if he can come here,” Barry says.

“Should I call Sara?” Cisco asks. Jania and Matt exchange a knowing look before rolling their eyes. Jania says something none of them understand, Matt answering back in the same language,” Oh today is gonna be fun.”

Barry doesn’t want to leave Cisco, HR, and Caitlin alone with these kids. They manage to convince him between their powers, they’ll be fine. Jania even turns over her bow and quiver as a sign of good faith. It’s an unbearably long day for all of them. Barry keeps looking at his phone, convinced he’s going to get a 911 text from Cisco. Nothing. Wally’s thankful his classes today are all lecture. His head has been spinning since the two had said he’s their father. Joe honestly hopes something doesn’t go monumentally wrong. However, if these last few years have taught him anything, when weird things (like your great grandkids from a different dimension showing up) all you can really do is hope for the best. Iris is so busy at CCPN that she almost forgets about Matt and Jania. Almost. The ease that they’d been willing to give their information seems off to her.

Once their perspective days are over, they all make their way to S.T.A.R. Labs. In the speed lab, Matt and Jania are in the middle of beating the crap out of each other. Matt punches Jania, his fist connecting with her cheek. Jania spins, kicking Matt hard in the face. He drops to the ground, sweeping her legs from under her. She quickly scrambles to her feet. Matt tries to punch her again, but she grabs his arm, pinning it behind his back. He twists his body in an attempt to slam her to the ground, but Jania releases his arm, jumping out of the way. Matt grunts in pain as he hits the ground hard. She’s about to kick him when Barry shouts,” What the hell are you doing?”

Both teens stop. Jania had changed clothes, now in a pair of running shorts and a black sports bra. Matt’s shirtless. Both are sweaty and annoyed.

“We’re just sparring,” Jania holds her hand out to her brother. Her braid falls to one side, showing a long thick scar running across her back. Iris notices a burn mark snaking up her neck,” Nice sweep there, big brother.”

“Thanks, sis. Good kick,” He hands her a towel. Neither acts like they’re embarrassed to be practically naked around a bunch of strangers or like kicking the crap out of each other is a big deal,” Cisco and HR got an idea and ran off about ten minutes ago. Caitlin had to go get some test results.”

“So you two decided to kill each other?” Wally asks.

Jania laughs,” If I wanted to kill him, believe me, beating him with my bare hands is not how I would do it. Sparring is something we do with our team. Keeps us battle ready.”

“Your team? There’s more of you?” Matt and Jania laugh.

“They aren’t related to us, promise. Mom and Dad had their hands full with the two of us. Our team is pretty much made of us and 4 of our friends. Their parents are heroes like ours. Well, Parker was adopted when he was 14.”

“He’s still one of us. He just joined the party late,” Jania says. She stretches an arm across her body. The two are much closer than they had been that morning. The adults all notice how scarred they are. Bullet wounds, burn marks, cuts. Jania has what looks like a surgical scar running across the lower part of her stomach. Barry has a few scars that would never quite fade away, but Jesus Christ, these kids look like someone’s used them as target practice.

“I have your test results,” Caitlin comes in with Cisco and HR just behind her,” So I tested your genes and blood. Jania, I found some evidence of the speed force in your cells.”

“Yeah, I know,” Jania nods,” They do a similar test on our earth every year. It’s pretty inactive for me physically, but I think and react just like a speedster would.”

“Dad used to call her a mental speedster.” Matt smiles warmly at his sister. Like he didn’t just punch her in the face a few minutes ago.

“That’s the other thing. I tested your DNA against Wally’s,” Caitlin taps her screen and shows it to her friends.

Barry lets out a sharp exhale,” 65% match.”

“Damn it,” Jania swears. Matt throws his fists in the air victoriously.

“I told you so,” He says smugly,” Enough DNA would be the same, but then you have to factor in differences in skin color-”

“Wait, what?” Wally’s confused. Matt and Jania look at each other. For the first time, both seem at a loss for words.

“You have some pictures right?” Jania asks. Matt nods. He presses a button on his watch. A holographic screen appears in front of them. Matt swipes the air just in front of it until he finds what he’s looking for. Everyone stares at the screen in disbelief. It must be Christmas morning, several years ago. Matt and Jania can’t be much older than 14. A handsome man with dark red hair and intelligent green eyes watches them, both kids clearly debating something, sitting next to a beautiful blonde woman. Her gray eyes shine at the kids.

“These are our parents.” Matt simply says. Wally stares at his supposed doppelganger. That can’t be him. He, this other Wally, is white. But he has the same freckles that both Matt and Jania have. They clearly get their tan skin from their mother, many of them note.

“Do you have the Christmas card from Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris?” Matt nods. He pulls it up. Barry and Iris look in disbelief. Iris on their earth is a lovely white woman, with the same red hair as that Wally. Matt’s is several shades lighter. Jania has the same green eyes as this Iris. Iris takes in their uncle. Their Barry has blond hair and blue eyes and is much stockier than her Barry. A young man and woman stand next to the two, both with red hair and blue eyes. Both have a strong resemblance to both Barry and Iris on that earth. _Merry Christmas from all of us, Iris, Barry, Dawn, and Donny._  On the bottom of the card, there’s a handwritten note. _To Matty and Jani girl, We love you so much! We’re so proud of you and everything you’ve done! Your parents would be too! Please come visit soon! Love, Aunt Iris._ The handwriting is almost an exact match to hers.

“What does she mean ‘your parents would be too,’” Wally asks. Jania and Matt are quiet again. A heavy sadness creeps onto their faces.

“Perhaps, young Matthew and Jania have neglected to inform us that they are or-” It’s Matt that interrupts HR.

“Finish that sentence and I swear to God I will make you regret it.” His eyes burn,” We aren’t orphans.”

“Our parents were abducted. We haven’t seen them in three years.” Jania turns to Cisco,” So what did you have to get?”

“No you don’t get to drop a bomb like that-” Jania cuts Barry off with a deadly glare. It’s the first time that either teen has reminded them of someone from this Earth. That glare is a clear trait from Oliver Queen.

“Uh, well I got this high-speed camera. We’ve been recording Matt’s speed all day, but I wanted to see how he runs and how quickly he can dodge things. This little beauty should be able to capture everything.” Cisco pats the camera.

“How fast can you run?” Barry asks.

Matt shrugs,” Mach 6.3 if I push it. Normally it’s around Mach 4.”

“How fast is that?” Joe asks.

“His normal speed, about 3069.08 miles per hour, 51. 16 miles per minute, 0.86 miles per second,” Jania answers instantly, the calculations rolling off her tongue. Neither of them seems impressed with this. Maybe they’re still thinking about their parents,” So he could run from where we are in California to Jersey in a little more than an hour.”

“How did you know that?” Cisco asks, still trying to do the math in his head. She was right.

“He has speed. I have an eidetic memory.”

“How is that possible?” Barry asks,” Not the memory, the speed. I’ve been running for three years and I’m at Mach 3 going at top speed.”

“I got my powers when I was 6, so that’s about 12 years I’ve been running. On our Earth, you’ve been doing this ages longer than me. You’re usually around Mach 5.” Matt looks at them slightly disinterested. They’re all beginning to pick up on the fact that these two have been living what they’ve experienced the last 3 years their whole lives. So talk about running at unfathomable speeds must be as common as what they’re going to eat for dinner.

“Ok, well, we have a couple of things we can throw at you,” Cisco shows them a few drones.

“Are those lasers?” Jania asks. Cisco nods,” Cool.”

“Hey, Jani, you know what we should show them?” Matt asks, an unsettling smirk on his face.

“William Tell?” Matt nods. A wicked grin spreads across her face. That smile scares them

“William Tell? That’s the guy with the apple right?” Joe says.

“You could say the same about Sir Isaac Newton. But in this case, you’re right. Tell was sentenced to death with his son. He could free both of them if and only if he shot an apple off his son’s head. Tell was an expert marksman with his crossbow, so in the single shot he had,” Jania snaps her fingers,” Hits the apple dead center.”

“Jania and I have a slightly different version of the story. More of a game we play. Would it be ok if we showed you?” He asks. Both of them are trying not to over step their bounds. They’ve been good about all the tests they’ve done all day as Caitlin told her when she called at lunch, yet Iris can tell just like Wally, they want to show off a little.

“It would help us gage Jania’s reaction time,” Cisco muses.

“Fine.” Barry agrees,” Let’s see it.”

Neither teen complains as Cisco and Caitlin hook them up to a crap ton of monitors. Matt stands at the bottom of the track with Jania. She hands him an apple. He gives her a teasing smile, says something they don’t hear but makes her laugh, and places the apple in his mouth. He’s gone in a crack. They watch her wait, her eyes locked on the back wall. Matt’s nothing more than a streak of yellow lightning. Barry and Wally can see him, running with the apple in his mouth. Jania moves quickly. She pulls back an arrow and fires into the lightning. They wait for it to reappear in the wall.

Matt slides to a stop at the bottom of the track. Jania’s arrow sticking out of the apple. He bites the apple and says,” You didn’t hit me.”

“Damn, I must have missed,” Jania takes the apple from him. She brings it over to them. They see the razor sharp edges of the tip dripping with apple juice. She pulls the arrow out, effectively cutting the apple in half,” Here.”

She tosses the half he bit at him. Matt takes a satisfactory bite,” Thanks, sis.”

“Who made you all?” Iris asks in disbelief. What they just did seems impossible and Iris West knows the impossible intimately.

“Well our mom and dad loved each other very much-,” Jania begins. Matt laughs.

“So they have that joke on your earth too. Good to know,” Joe says,” I think Iris meant how did you all do that?”

“My mom taught me archery almost every day since I was five. Dad used to race Matt across California every weekend. We’ve been doing this our whole lives. Plus we like showing off. He was going somewhere around Mach 1ish. My bow can send an arrow 225 feet per second. It’s a matter of waiting and trust.”

“Scaring the shit out of people is a pretty good bonus.” Matt chuckles.

“This is incredible,” Caitlin is reading their results on the screen,” Both their vitals are completely normal. He was going exactly Mach 1.3. That’s- that’s amazing.”

“We aim to please,” Jania gives a small bow. Matt groans at his sister’s joke.

“You should be ashamed of that pun.”

“Nah, I’m good.” Jania takes a bite of her apple half,” So were you all able to get in touch with your friends. Sara Lance, Raymond Palmer, Martin Stein, Jefferson Jackson, Mick Rory, Nathaniel Heywood, and Amaya Jiwe have quite a way to travel.”

“How-”

“Cisco left his tablet in here before running out of the room. Matt sped-read about everyone. He gave me the run down as we were sparring.” Jania explains.

“My tablet was locked.” Cisco says defensively as a few of his team turn to him,” With a very complex password.”

“That’s true. That being said, my girlfriend has taught me more than enough ways to hack into a tablet,” Jania rolls her eyes when Matt says my girlfriend.

“Your _girlfriend_ didn’t teach you to hack. She taught you to break in.” Jania smirks,” You can barely operate the TV without some assistance from her.”

“You have a-” Wally isn’t sure he wants to know.

“Yes, I do. Her name’s Sophie and that’s all I’m going to tell you.” Matt says.

“Ok, we need to get to the hanger. Sara said they would be there at 6:30.”

“Allons-y then,” Matt says, ready for action. Jania rolls her eyes, but they see the small smile on her face. What did they get themselves into?


	2. What's going on?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, beautiful girls, handsome boys, and attractive others! I know I haven't updated in forever. I've been crazy busy. Hopefully, I'll post more frequently since most of this story has been pre-written. Just editing. 
> 
> Just FYI Jania's name is pronounced like Jan-e-ah and her nickname (Jani) is pronounced like Jan-e.   
> Love you lots!

Matt and Jania ride in the S.T.A.R. Labs van with Iris, Joe, HR, Caitlin, and Cisco, who learn something very interesting about the two. Neither of them can ride in cars for more than ten minutes (unless they’re driving) without getting sick. At first, they thought the two were just kidding. As their tan faces steadily pale and they hold their stomachs, the adults begin to believe them. Matt grabs his mouth as they take one of the last turns.   
“How is it you can run at incredible speeds, yet an automobile makes you ill?” HR asks.   
“Something in the brain,” Jania groans,” it gets confused and-”  
Iris manages to hand Jania a trash bag as she throws up. Jania whimpers a little in between gags, in more pain than she was letting on. Iris feels bad for her. Jania holds her head and the bag. Iris asks,” Are you ok?”  
“Just-just trying to remember what I ate last.”  
“Yeah, I’ve been there before,” Iris finds herself smiling as Jania chuckles.  
“Not like that, though something tells me you’d be more fun to hang out with than my aunt Iris,” Jania swallows hard,” Matt and I have to track everything we eat and, when we’re sick like this, throw up.”  
“Shitty metabolism?” Iris guesses, remembering what Matt said that morning and think about Barry.  
“Ding-ding-ding,” Jania pitches forward again, gagging. Matt can’t take it anymore. Once the van stops, he jumps out and races to the other end of the tarmac, lightning following him. Jania sits for minute, letting her stomach settle,” Cisco’s protein bars don’t taste as good the second time around.”  
Iris helps Jania out of the van. Matt appears at their side with a burst of air and crack. His hair is messy and his cheeks flushed,” I’m running back to S.T.A.R. Labs. A thirty minute drive is not my idea of fun.”  
“You’re taking me with you,” Jania adjusts her quiver, unfazed by the cold. Caitlin had found a pair of leggings for Jania to wear under her shorts, insisting that she’d freeze to death. Jania had taken them just to get everyone off her back. She didn’t bother with jacket and neither did Matt. They walk into the hanger, both speaking in the language they’d spoken that morning. Iris wonders what they’re saying.  
“Barry didn’t tell us our new friends spoke Vietnamese.” Sara stands with her team. Oliver, Felicity, and Dig mingle with a few of the legends.  
“They didn’t ask. You must be Sara Lance, the White Canary,” Jania holds out her hand,” My brother read your files and gave me the highlights.”  
“Barry was just telling us about you two.” Sara looks Jania over. Her eyes settle on Jania’s bow clipped to her quiver.  
“Don’t worry. I only reserve those for people who need a good ass kicking,” Jania gives her a grin. Sara returns it. She can tell Jania and her will get along well. Matt and Jania are introduced to everyone else. Dig seems a little skeptical.  
“So you two are from the future and a different Earth?” He asks.  
“Basically,” Jania shrugs.  
“Do you all have aliens?” He asks, half joking.  
“Yep. Our godmother is from Mars,” Matt answers, completely serious,” Jania’s godfather is half Kryptonian. Mine’s Atlanitan.”  
“He means Uncle Kaldur is from Atlantis, the magical underwater kingdom. Not Atlanta, Georgia.” Jania expands. Dig’s eyes are wide. Ray and Nate look ready to ask them every question they can think of.   
“Kryptonian? Like Superman and Supergirl?” Felicity beats the two to the punch.  
“Yeah! Kara used to babysit us when we were little. She was one of many babysitters,” Matt says. He takes in most of their faces, with varying degrees of disbelief. He looks at Jania,” They don’t believe us, do they?”  
“Let’s be honest, big brother, would you believe them?” She asks.  
Matt sighs and looks back at the adults,” Look, I know it’s hard to believe. If any of you came to our Earth, we’d probably assume you were lying. But Jania and I, our team, we grew up believing in the impossible. We are impossible. Not just because of what we can do or our powers. Because in our universe, everything lined up just right for us to exist the way we do now. We just need you to believe in our impossible, can you do that?”  
Iris and Barry remember when Iris wrote something similar, years ago, before she knew he was the Flash. Jania puts a hand on her brother’s shoulder,” My brother left out one important thing. We aren’t here for anything. Barry and his team called you all together to basically check us out and make sure we aren’t here to kill you. Which we aren’t, just FYI. Our earth is fine. We were sent here against our will.”  
“By who?” Oliver asks.   
“His name is Eobard Thawne. He’s-”  
Cisco cuts Jania off,” A speedster from the future, related to Eddie Thawne. Evil, hates the Flash for some unknown reason.”  
“I don’t know who Eddie is,” Jania looks at her brother. He shakes his head,” His ancestor is named Malcolm Thawne.”  
“And you could say, I’m a family problem.” Everyone feels a sharp gust of wind. Jania is whisked away in a crack of red lightning. A man in a deep yellow suit appears holding Jania by her neck, her arrows and bow on the ground. Jania gasps for air, clawing at his hand. Her legs have been tied together so she can’t kick him.  
“JANIA!” Matt’s body crackles with energy. Before he can move, the man in yellow vibrates his hand and shoves it into Jania’s chest. Jania grips the arm holding her up, eyes bugging out. A high-pitched squeak falls from her lips,” JANI!”  
“Move and I stop my hand. You know how this works, Matthew,” The man sounds smug. The heroes can literally see Matt shaking as he watches his sister gasp for air,” Finish the story. Tell them who I am.”  
“You’re one of Uncle Barry’s great to the x generation nephews. Malcolm was his twin brother. A doctor fucked up and killed his adopted parents real son. So he gave them Malcolm to cover it up. Told Barry’s parents the other baby was stillborn. Barry didn’t know.” Matt spits out through gritted teeth. His eyes don’t leave his Jania,” Why take us here, Thawne? It doesn’t help you at all.”  
“No? Right now, everyone in this room thinks you two are crazy. They don’t want to believe you. The fact you two know them so well, makes it very fun. You two are in a room of people you love and all alone.”  
“How about you let us determine if we think they’re crazy or not,” Iris says. Matt feels her place a hand on his shoulder. He stands a little taller, a little more confident.  
“You must be Iris West. You’re much more of a dark beauty on this earth, but still just as feisty,” Thawne looks at them for the first time. His eyes are nothing more than deep black pits with red pupils.  
“You wouldn’t break your back to send us here to make us feel alone. There’s something else.” Matt’s voice up to this point has been annoyingly cheerful. Now it’s deeper and darker. He tears his eyes from his sister to meet the villain’s,” You know how fast Barry is on our earth. How fast my father is. How fast I am.”  
“Not as fast as me,” Thawne gloats.  
“Maybe not yet, but you sent Jania back too. She’s not a speedster, but she’s a sharpshooter. We’re a team. Speed and precision. You know that. One of us by ourselves in a place we don’t know, that’s being alone. You want us to suffer together.” Matt’s walking now, taking tentative steps, but power radiates off him. Everyone is waiting, all their weapons drawn,” So what do you have planned, Eobard?”  
“Maybe I’m going to kill your sister,” Jania cries out in pain as his hand slows the tiniest bit, making Matt freeze in his tracks.  
“Ma-Matt,” Jania gasps, pained tears fill her eyes. Matt’s hands curl in fury.  
“You have had more than enough time to kill her. You could have been in and out, and she’d be gone. That’s not what you’re planning. You take what we love.”  
“You love her.”  
“Yes, I do.” Matt admits. This shocks everyone. Most of them would never readily admit they love the person a villain is about to kill, yet Matt makes no move to hold back,” She’s my sister, my best friend, my partner in crime. I’ve loved her since the day my parents told me I was going to be a big brother. I’ve loved her since the day she was born. I love her when we fight and when we’re best friends. I will love her until the day I die. We’re family, so I know how strong she is. You won’t hurt her. You hurt people who are vulnerable. People who can’t fight back.”  
Thawne and Matt stare down. Matt squares his shoulders, staring back into the man’s eyes. Unflinching, unwavering, strong. Thawne’s lips curl into a disgusting grin,” You, Matthew, are much smarter than you appear.”  
Thawne pulls his arms from Jania’s chest and releases her neck. She collapses on the ground. Barry uses his speed to run and grab her, quickly bringing her back to them and untying her legs. Matt doesn’t move. Not yet. Thawne produces a manila envelope and places it on the ground.  
“You’re right. I want you to suffer. Just like Barry did once.” Thawne looks at Barry, who holds Jania up right. Barry can feel the young woman shaking as she coughs, gripping his sleeve like a lifeline,” And how I hope he will suffer in the future. But right now, you two are my main focus.”  
“What’s in the envelop,” Sara asks.  
“A very important clue,” Thawne says,” what they’re looking for. I would hurry though. The men that have this thing are sure to find a buyer very quickly. After all there’s only four of them in existence.”  
Matt snaps. He surges forward, yelling,” YOU BASTARD!”  
Thawne’s gone with a laugh and a crack. Matt is in the place where Thawne had just been. He turns and for a second his eyes are pitch black with yellow pupils. His body vibrates, little bits of lightning traveling down his skin. They blink and he’s back to normal, but furious. Jania pulls away from Barry, whispering a raspy thanks. She and the others go to Matt. He scoops up the envelope. His eyes find his sister. The anger fades just a little bit, replaced with worry. In a flash, he’s holding her in his arms and she’s gripping the back of his shirt. For a moment, the siblings stand there in their embrace, both trying to be strong for the other. When the break a part, Matt looks at her neck, already bruising.   
“Jani?” He asks.  
“He bruised my trachea, maybe crushed it a bit,” Jania’s voice is much raspier, and she’s breathing a little harder,” I’m fine, Matty.”  
“You should be dead.” Cisco says. The teens look at him, clearly pissed at that observation,” I mean it’s great that you aren’t, but usually when a speedster sticks their hand in your chest, you dead.”  
“We’ll explain later,” Matt says hastily. He looks at the envelope.  
“Matt-”  
“Jania, it’s not-”  
“It could be-”  
“He wouldn’t be able to. I know-”  
“If it’s not-”  
“The gems-”  
“Gems?” Mick peaks with interest,” What gems?”  
“Not real gems.” Jania gives him a disgusted look,” And really? That’s all you give a shit about?”  
“All there is to care about, blondie.” Jania begins to swell up with anger. Matt grabs her wrist, making her look at him. They don’t say anything, just have a conversation without words.  
“Perhaps Matthew should open the envelope.” Professor Stein says. Matt rips it open. He pulls out several photos. Felicity, who’s standing right behind him, sees the pictures at the same time he does.  
“Oh my god,” she covers her mouth,” He has a little girl.”  
Jania visibly deflates. She stumbles back into Joe. He’s not sure what to do exactly, but he places a hand on her shoulder, hoping this helps. Her voice is soft,” Matt?”  
“It’s Emerald.” Matt’s face is slowly turning red with anger,” the fucker has Emerald.”   
“Wha-who’s Emerald?” Ray asks. Matt passes the photos around. In them, a little girl lays on her side, her hands and feet bound. She’s unconscious, her fiery red hair drifting in her face. Her purple jumper is stained, white shirt and tights dirty. A tiny moon necklace hangs around her neck. She’s so little.  
“That’s Emerald,” Matt says, his voice breaking,” Emerald Grayson.”  
“How old is she?” Iris doesn’t want to know, even as the words leave her mouth. None of them do.  
Jania swallows hard,” She just turned three in April.”  
“My God,” All the heroes are on high alert. Any hostage is taken with high priority, but a child, especially one this young, is a different issue separately. Stein begins to babble,” So this Thawne, he took a child- a little girl-”  
“He said there were only four of her in the world,” Jax points out,” What did he mean?”  
Matt and Jania struggle to articulate the easy answer. Matt asks Felicity to help him connect his watch to the computer monitors behind them. Jania tells the others,” If you’re going to help, you have to know everything.”  
“Ok, we are good to go,” Felicity says after a second,” You can control it from your watch-communicator-thingy.”  
“Thanks.” Matt and Jania both stand apart from the others. It hits a few of them just how young both of them are. They all remember being the same age as these two, none of them aware of how their lives would turn out. Despite the horrors they’ve no doubt faced, both Wests hold themselves up high,” On October 25th, 2035, two dozen heroes were abducted. Some of them were over powered during a fight. Some were ambushed walking to work or on patrol. Some were taken from their homes. Our parents were part of that last group.”  
“Two other heroes that were taken,” Jania says as Matt pulls up two pictures. One is a man with dark hair and blue eyes looking at them from behind a small mask. The other is a breath taking woman, with curly red hair, exactly like Emerald’s, and eyes that are varying shades of green, no pupils or whites,” Were Richard Grayson, a.k.a. Dick Grayson, a.k.a. Nightwing, and Koriand’r, a.k.a Starfire. Koriand’r is a princess from a planet called Tamaran. The two were part of the same team and married.”  
“They’ve four kids.” The next picture Matt pulls up looks more like one snapped on his phone. The girl inside is beautiful, long black hair hanging down her back and eyes just like Koriand’r’s. She’s smiling more at the person behind the camera than the camera itself. Three more pictures pop up. A little boy with a strong resemblance to Dick and two little girls. Aside from one of them having blue eyes and the other green, the two are identical. The little girl with green eyes must be Emerald. She smiles widely, showing off her pearly whites, green eyes matching Koriand’r’s as well,” Their oldest is a daughter, S-Mar’i. Koriand’r had issues with having kids, so it was almost 14 years until the three younger children were born.”  
“They’re triplets,” Jania explains,” Sapphire, the girl with blue eyes, she’s the oldest of the three. No powers. Advanced learning. Good at hand to hand combat for her age. Emerald, the youngest daughter, can fly. She also can create beams of ultraviolet energy called starbolts. Richard, aka Richie, is the youngest and only boy. No flight. Super strength and starbolts.”  
“Wait,” Barry interrupts,” you all said it was 2038 in your time. Does that mean-”  
“They haven’t seen their parents since they were six months old,” Matt confirms.  
“Oh my God,” Iris covers her mouth.   
“Wait, what about guardianship?” Dig says,” Neither of you can be more than 18.”  
“That’s true,” Jania says,” Matt is 18 and I’m 17, our birthday is an exact year a part. That’s not important though.”  
“Mar’i, who goes by her middle name Sophie, was granted temporary restricted guardianship. Because they are the only four Tamaranian-human hybrids in the world, Sophie argued that she was the only one who could understand how they would grow and adapt. Her guardianship allows her to make medical decisions and sign legal documents. There’s a crap ton of restrictions and rules, but that’s the gist.”  
“So Thawne kidnapped 1/4th of an entire species,” Sara says,” and the oldest of the other 3/4ths is their legal guardian. Something tells me this Sophie is very close and motherly to her younger sister.”  
“Yeah she is,” Jania nods.  
“How does this hurt you two?” Jax asks.  
“Sophie is one of our teammates and my best friend,” Jania says,” Our team lives in what’s called Titan’s Tower. We’ve helped take care of the triplets since they were babies.”  
“She’s your girlfriend,” Iris says. Matt meets her dark brown eyes,” Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, you said you had a girlfriend and her name was Sophie. This is her little sister.”  
Matt nods. HR laughs,” Magnificent! So this Flash-”  
“Reverse Flash,” Jania corrects angrily,” He’s not the Flash.”  
“Yes, yes, this Reverse Flash, he has taken this little girl because she is a half breed-”  
“Don’t call her that,” Matt and Jania bark. Both of them glare at HR like they’re about to rip his head off.  
“She is a hybrid,” Stein amends,” with tremendous power it appears. Perhaps this Reverse Flash choose her for a specific reason.”  
“I want you to know you are one comment from being at the wrong end of my bow,” Jania growls HR, 100% serious.  
“HR and Stein do have a point,” Barry says.  
“Thank you, BA.”  
“Don’t call me BA. If Sophie’s your girlfriend/best friend and her sister, who you’ve helped raise over the past three years, has been taken, that’s hitting you from two different angles. “ Barry explains.  
“So, we find Emerald and kick Thawne’s ass,” Jania proposes.  
“As much as I like that plan, we might want to think a little more,” Sara muses,” We need to figure out where Emerald is being held.”  
“And what Thawne meant by you all suffering like Barry,” Oliver can’t shake the gleeful tone in the villain’s voice.  
“I’m not sure,” Matt admits,” But whatever it is can’t be good.”  
“First priority is to find Emerald. Nate, you, Ray, and Amaya go back to the ship. Have Gideon scan for any anomalies in this time era. Martin, you can work with Cisco and Felicity, figuring out Emerald’s location,” Sara orders. The Legends nod, understanding.  
Oliver looks at the West kids,” We should talk.”  
“Can we have Uncle Barry there to make sure you don’t kill us?” Jania meets Oliver’s eyes with clear distaste.   
“Fine,” Oliver sighs angrily. Matt and Jania follow him to a small trailer used to house extra equipment. Oliver gestures to two chairs for them to sit in. Neither teen moves,” I’ll make this brief-”  
“You don’t like us, trust us, or want to help us,” Jania interrupts.  
“Jania,” Matt gives her a sideways look.  
“He might not look like Uncle Ollie, Matt, but he’s just as easy to read.”  
“I don’t trust you because too much of your story doesn’t make sense.”  
“Yes, because the Mayor of Star City galivanting as a discounted Robin Hood at night makes total sense,” Jania’s voice drips with sarcasm.  
“That’s not the same,” Oliver protests,” You’re expecting us to believe that you’ve been raised as superheroes and-”  
“What do we gain from lying, Oliver?!” Jania demands,” What?! Matt and I have been here all day! We haven’t lied once, even when it would have been really easy! We’ve let Cisco, Caitlin, and HR run every test they wanted on us! Not once have we complained or said no! Now a little girl’s life is at risk! A little girl that we love! We trust you all because we have no other choice!”  
“There’s a difference between trusting someone because you actually trust them and because they have something you need.” Oliver meets the young archer’s eyes. Barry sees Jania reach for her belt, probably to grab a weapon. Matt is the one who slides between the two.  
“Jania, enough. He’s got every right not to trust us. It’s smart,” Jania scoffs at her brother’s defense of Oliver. Matt ignores her,” Oliver, Jania’s right too. All day we’ve been with Cisco, Caitlin, and HR. We could have taken them down at any point, maybe not easily, but we could have done it. We didn’t ask to be here. We just needed help to find a way home. Now we need help saving Emerald. Please.”  
Where Jania is harsh and demanding, Matt is kind and questioning. Oliver can see too many similarities between himself and Jania. Too many between Barry and Matt. Matt meets the older archer’s eyes. Fear, anger, and desperation find their way to the top, but also hope. Matt’s holding onto hope until the bitter end. Oliver takes a deep breath,” You all have to follow our lead.”  
“Understood,” Matt agrees. Jania rolls her eyes but nods.   
“I’m going to go see if Cisco and Felicity need help. If that’s ok with you, Oliver,” Jania leaves without waiting for an answer. Matt rubs his face.  
“Sorry about her. She’s scared. We both are. Thawne said Uncle Barry had suffered like this once before.”  
“Do you know what he meant by that?” Barry asks.  
Matt shakes his head,” Thawne’s been tormenting our family for, like, three generations. That could mean literally anything.”  
“What stands out to you?” Oliver asks,” Anything at all.”  
“God,” Matt shakes his head,” Thawne’s done some really fucked up stuff. He almost killed Aunt Iris when she was pregnant with my cousins. He’s terrorized Central City, kidnapping people, hurting them, killing them just before Uncle Barry was there. He attacked my mom when Dad was out of town once.”  
“He did?” Barry recognizes the look on Matt’s face. He’d seen it almost every day after his mom died.   
“Yeah. I was, um, I don’t know, four or five. Didn’t have my powers yet. Jania and I heard this crashing downstairs. We ran as fast as we could,” Matt squeezes his eyes shut,” Mom was fighting him, getting as many hits and kicks in as she could. She wasn’t gonna go down without a fight. I heard his laughter and I screamed for her. I felt powerless, y’know? I was just a kid and Jani was crying for our mom, too. There was nothing we could do to help. She looked at us and it was the first time I’d ever seen her that scared. Thawne, he looked at us. Like the way a lion looks at his prey. Mom used that distraction to stab him in the leg, severing some tendons there. He managed to escape. I don’t know how, but at the time, I didn’t care. I thought I was going to lose my mom.”  
“What happened after that?” Barry asks.  
“Dad ran all the way home. He refused to travel anywhere without us for over a year. I heard him telling Mom that Thawne used the event against him in one of their fights. That he’d have lost all of us. ‘You were almost too slow. Too slow to save the love of your life. To save your son or your daughter. Too slow,’” Matt’s words are bitter. His hands shaking at the memory,” That’s only what he did to my dad. Thawne is a psychopath.”  
“We’ll figure something out,” Barry assures the young speedster. Matt gives him a sad smile.  
“I hope you’re right, Barry,” Matt sighs,” I hope for Emerald’s sake, you’re right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think (preferably more than just a demand to write about specific characters)


	3. What Do We Do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDD It's been forever since I've posted anything and I know it. I'm really sorry guys! I have like 4 jobs and no time to myself. When my classes start back up, I should have a more regulated scheduale. At least that's what I'm hoping for. Anyway, will try to post the rest of this story that I have written hopefully within the next week or so. And add some other. Love you!!

Jania sits with Cisco, Stein, Felicity, Caitlin, and Iris. Her watch is plugged into a spare laptop and her fingers fly across the keyboard. Since her talk with Oliver, she’s been on edge, mumbling in angry Vietnamese. None of them need a translation to know she’s cursing him out.

“Cisco, were you able to access the satellite?” She asks, irritated.

“Yeah. I have it scanning for cellular dead zones,” He confirms,” So far nothing.”

“We need another way to find her,” Iris is looking through her laptop. Felicity had set her up with traffic cams from all over the city. She moves between all of them, hoping to find something. So far, nothing.

“Cisco could try vibing,” Caitlin suggests.

“I’d need something of hers to do that with,” Cisco points out,” like a piece of cloth or a drawing.”

Jania thinks for a moment before pulling a small silver bag from her pocket. The bag is silver and couldn’t hold anything bigger than a cell phone. She sets it gently on the table. There’s some amusement in her eyes as she asks,” You all have Harry Potter in this world, right?”

Before they can answer, she slips her arm into the bag. It completely disappears up to her elbow. Jania closes her eyes as she feels around. She produces a purple dress, tucking the bag back into her shorts.

“How-” Cisco shakes his head,” Actually, I’ll figure it out later. Is that Emerald’s?”

“Yeah. Sapphire hates dresses.” Jania hands him the dress.

“Are all names on your Earth weird?” He shakes his head. Jania scoffs.

“Realmente, _Francisco_. Quieres hablar de los nombres extraños?,” Jania asks.

“You speak Spanish?” Stein is surprised.

“I speak 193 languages fluently, not all from Earth,” Jania tells them,” eidetic memory meets a small physical need for sleep. Not important. Cisco, can you do your thing?”

“Yeah,” Cisco makes a note to ask her to list all her languages when she has a minute. He places his hand on the soft fabric. There’s a jarring sound in his head and the scene jumps into view. Cages full of people line the walls. In the middle of the room, suspended by her arms, is Emerald. The little girl is thankfully unconscious, her head rolling listlessly to the side. He approaches her, checking her pulse. A strong steady thump against his fingers relaxes him a bit. He looks around for a clue as to where she could be. A man stands just behind him, grin on his face. Cisco knows the man can’t see him, but there’s a moment of panic. The man reaches for Emerald, touching the little girl’s cheek. The man says something that he doesn’t understand.

“You ok?” Caitlin grips Cisco’s arm as he gasps for air. Vibing is not something he likes to do very often.

“Yeah, I saw her,” Jania searches his face for any information he has,” She’s alive. A man has her. I think he’s a trafficker.”

“Did he say anything?” Jania asks.

“Yeah,” Cisco repeats what he heard. Jania’s eyes widen for a second before she grabs the laptop.

“What language was that?” Iris asks.

“German,” Jania answers, her fingers flying over the keys,” Rough translation ‘little one, you are going to make me a very rich man once I’m done with you.’”

The words send a chill down their spines. They all know the statistics of a missing child being found alive. Even if she is found alive, who’s to say what will happen to her before then?

“I know who has her,” Jania says, turning the laptop to them. Cisco recognizes the man on the screen from his vibe,” Felix Strauss, A.K.A. Stardust. You’re right, he’s a trafficker, but he specializes in metahumans and aliens. Rarer they are the more he can sell them for-”

“Young Emerald on your earth is one fourth of an entire species,” Stein’s eyes widen behind his glasses,” on our earth, she is the only one of her kind.”

“She’s also three,” Iris points out,” It would be pretty easy for her to be manipulated.”

“Honestly it’s easier to manipulate her than the other two because she’s such a people pleaser. Convince her she’s helping people and she’ll use her powers for whatever you want.”

“You said she has something call starbolts?” Cisco asks.

“Yeah. They’re highly concentrated forms of ultraviolet energy,” Jania brushes the hair from her eyes.” Her powers rely on emotion. To use starbolts, she has to have ‘righteous fury’ or something like that.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Jania turns to Sara, who’d walked up to the conversation.

“The more upset she is at something she thinks is unfair, the more damage the bolts do.” Jania briefly explains,” Emmy’s definition of righteous fury is pretty much anyone who picks on someone else. She doesn’t like bullies.”

“Wonder where she learned that from,” Sara raises an eyebrow. Jania doesn’t comment, but the edges of her mouth twitch.

“Something about this set up seems familiar,” Jania squeezes her eyes shut. Her lips move quickly, forming inaudible words,” Felicity, if you could please search for Strauss and the Flash on my communicator, it might help.”

“Of course,” Felicity cracks her knuckles and winces,” still not as bad ass as I thought it would be.”

Jania is still thinking as Felicity searches. Matt runs to the platform, crashing into the table. He doesn’t slow down to register the pain, just exclaims,” DAWN!”

“What?” Jania opens her eyes, bewildered at her brother,” What about her?”

“Thawne took her once.” Matt’s thinking at a million miles an hour and speaking twice as fast.

“Who’s Dawn?” Sara asks.

“Dawn Allen, Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry’s daughter,” Everyone looks at Barry as he and Oliver come running over,” She’s a speedster. Like the best. She runs laps around me for fun.”

“She’s also four years older than you,” Jania says,” When would Thawne have-”

“June of 2019,” Felicity interrupts. The young heroes look at her,” Sorry. I found the report that Barry-well your Earth’s Barry-wrote. Thawne took Dawn and gave her to Strauss. Speedsters aren’t very common on your world, are they?”

“Depends on your definition of speedsters. There’s like seven of us that use the speed force,” Matt shrugs,” Eight at most. Mas y Menos, two brothers, they don’t use it. Including them, though, there’s maybe 10 in the world.”

“So, a high commodity for Strauss,” Felicity continues,” Strauss here likes to drug his prisoners so they can’t fight back.”

“On our earth, he uses inhibitor collars,” Jania says. Matt rubs his throat, swallowing hard,” They disable a meta’s powers. They use it in Belle Reve and Arkham Asylum, mostly, but a few state prisons have them too.”

“Right. Anyway, Strauss drugged Dawn and was ready to sell her to the highest bidder. Your Barry showed up and kicked his ass. The thing is Dawn was his prisoner for about 12 hours,” Felicity shows them pictures attached to the report. The little girl had red hair like Emerald, but the similarities end there. Her skin is much paler than Emerald’s and is covered in freckles. She’s conscious, big blue eyes wide with fear, suspended from the ceiling by her wrists. Duct tape covers her mouth. A sign hangs from her neck. _HELP ME, DADDY_ written across in big red letters.

“12 hours,” Matt shakes his head,” Uncle Barry would have been losing his mind.”

“Do either of you remember this?” Barry asks.

Matt snorts,“Dude, I would’ve been a fetus when this went down. So no, don’t remember, but we get the idea.”

His watch begins to ring. He and Jania are more surprised than any of them.

“No way should anyone be able to get to you,” Jania says,” It’s scientifically impossible.”

“Guess it’s a good thing the witch is calling. Doing the scientifically impossible is what she does,” Matt presses two buttons. A girl appears in front of them. She’s at least a foot shorter than Matt. The loose green dress and black shawl hang off her scrawny frame, the dark colors making her pale skin seem even paler. Her red and green hair hangs in an uneven pixie cut, longer stands tucked behind her pointed ears.

“It’s about damn time!” She growls,” Do you have any idea what’s going on?”

“Emerald was captured by Eobard Thawne, who also kidnapped us, and sent us back in time and to a different earth,” Jania guesses. The girl narrows her wild green eyes.

“Ok, I wasn’t actually expecting you to have an answer,” She looks at the adults around her friends,” Do I want to ask?”

“A headache for another time,” Matt says. He waves his hand around,” Everyone, this is the holographic version of Delilah Logan, one of our teammates. We call her Lila.”

“And a witch,” Sara comments. Lila smirks, showing off pointed canines.

“That’s actually my job description. I’m an Elementalist,” Lila looks back at Matt and Jania.

“Li, what happened? How did Thawne get Emmy?” Jania asks.

Lila grunts,” Too many things when wrong at once. She wasn’t feeling good so we gave her some medicine to help. Sophie had her lay down then got called away to stop a break in at the steel factory. I had to go fight Kadabra, who was robbing the Perez Bank. Sapphy and Richie got into a fight, which Luke had to resolve. Parker was running a diagnostic test that blew the power for about 57 seconds-”

“That would be more than enough time for Thawne to get her,” Matt points out,” Running through the tower at his top speed would take maybe three seconds if he checked every room. Plus grabbing Emerald and getting out maybe another two. Five if he was being dramatic.”

“What have you figured out?” Lila asks. Matt begins speaking at top speed. His words run together and nothing makes sense to anyone but the two girls. Lila notices the confused looks on the others’ faces,” Don’t worry. Speedster-ese, as we call it, is a language you pick up on pretty quickly in our house.”

“How’s Soph?” Matt asks, concerned.

“She’s beating herself up. Your Aunt Dinah got here maybe an hour ago to tell us you two were gone and Sophie was already on edge with Emerald,” Lila won’t meet Matt’s eyes.

“Lila?” his voice is soft and pleading.

“She broke down crying,” Lila admits after a small hesitation. Grief fills both Matt and Jania’s faces.

“How bad?”

”Like, on the ground, holding her stomach, sobbing her eyes out.”

“Fuck. Did she say anything?” Jania asks.

“‘Please, God, let this be a dream. Please don’t take them away too.’ Then some stuff in Tamanarnian that I didn’t understand, but I recognized your names. I think she was praying to her gods to bring you back,” Matt turns away from Lila. He grips the back of a chair, his knuckles turning white,” Losing Em almost killed her. Finding out you two were missing, maybe dead because they couldn’t find your heat signatures...”

She lets her sentence trail off. Matt’s eyes flash with anger. Once again, they turn black with yellow pupils before changing back to gray,” When I get my hands on Thawne, I’m gonna kill him. I swear to God I will.”

“Matty,” Jania touches her brother’s arm,” We’re gonna get him. You need to stay calm. Lila, what medicine did you give her?”

“Two of the purple pills. She was up all last night with a nasty cough.”

“Ok, so she should be out for about 4 hours. How long has it been for you all? Since she went missing and we disappeared?”

“You two disappeared about 6 hours ago. Em about 2 and a half.” Lila runs a hand through her hair,” I’ve been trying to reach you since, well, once Dinah told us what happened, I searched through my spell books, hoping to find a spell so I could contact you. Clearly, the one I found worked.”

“We’re gonna get her,” Matt promises, his voice deeper and darker like when Thawne had Jania,” We are gonna save Emerald and we are going to come home. You tell Sophie that.”

“I will. I’ll tell everyone you’re alive. Maybe Uncle Cisco can find a way to get you home,” Lila says,” I’ll look through my books see if I can find anything on interdimensional travel.”

“Can we call you when we find Emmy?” Jania asks. Everyone notices she says when not if.

“You can try. I’m not sure if it will work, but when are we ever sure about anything,” Lila looks at both her friends,” You two will be safe right?”

“Of course,” Jania reassures her,” We’re following their lead on this one.”

Jania gestures to the adults around her. Lila relaxes a little,” Well if Sophie was here, she’d tell you she’s praying for you.”

“Just make sure everyone there is ok,” Jania says.

“I will. I love you guys.”

“Love you too, Li. We’ll see you soon. Promise.” Lila flickers out of view. Matt’s hands are curled into tight fists. Sara can feel the anger radiating off of him. Jania notices too. She makes him look at her,” Big brother, I need you to listen. I know you are angry right now. At Emerald being missing, us being here, Sophie hurting, I get it. But you need to focus.”

Matt’s eyes are yellow and black again. This time they stay that way. His voice sounds so much like Zoom’s, filled with so much anger and hate that Barry pulls Iris a little closer to his side,” I’m going to kill him. I’ll break his neck. Put my hand through his heart. He doesn’t get to hurt _her_.”

They get the feeling that the her he’s referring to isn’t Emerald.

“You won’t kill him,” Jania’s voice is strong,” You don’t kill. We will save Emmy, I promise. But you need to calm down. Please.”

It’s not just anger rolling off him now. Small bolts of electricity race down his arms. Jania doesn’t flinch,” Matty. Breathe.”

Matt releases a slow, deep breath. His eyes slowly fade back to normal. He looks at everyone and runs away. Jania sighs and turns to them.

“What was that?” Oliver asks.

“Matt has Asperger’s Syndrome,” Jania says,” I don’t know if you have it here, but it’s a high functioning form of autism. One shitty thing about it is his emotional gauge is pretty much all over the place. When he gets really, really, really pissed, his powers act up.”

“You’re good at talking him down,” Felicity says, trying to lighten the mood. Jania gives her a rueful smile.

“Our parents were better at it. Especially our mom,” Jania shakes her head and cracks her knuckles,” Ok, We know who has Emerald, when and how Thawne took her, and I’m hoping a location.”

“Ask and ye shall receive,” Cisco holds out his tablet,” Strauss never stays anywhere more than two weeks. Always a water front location. When the police get too close, he’s got a meta that burns things on retainer.”

“Ashley McKenna,” Jania grits her teeth.

“You know her?” Iris asks. Jania absentmindedly touches the back of her neck.

“Yeah, I know her.”

“So, we found that people from other Earths create cellular dead zones wherever they go. Right now, there is a cellular dead zone in the Central City Docks, pier 36, that wasn’t there yesterday. Thermal scanners are picking up about fifty people in there.”

“So it’s an all hands on deck situation,” Sara decides. Cisco nods,” All right. I’ll have Nate and Amaya bring the Waverider to us. We’ll use it to get to the docks. Kick ass and save Emerald.”

“I like that plan,” Jania grins.

“Good. Now you and your brother should suit up,” Sara orders.

“Uh, we don’t have suits, exactly.” Jania admits,” Our generation doesn’t do the whole ‘secret identity’ thing. Too much confusion and tights.”

“Come with me,” Sara takes Jania’s arm,” We’ll find you something.”

“Alright, suit up,” Oliver pats Barry’s arm. Barry notices Iris’s frown. He takes her hand, leading her away from everyone else. They stand outside the hanger.

“Hey, what’s up?’’ he asks, taking in every inch of her face.

“I’m just trying to wrap my head around all of this.” She shakes her dark locks,” I’m also thinking I need to keep a list of all the places we’re married.”

“Hey, it’s like you said. No matter where we go, you’ll always be Iris, and I’ll always be Barry,” He smiles lovingly,” And we always find each other.”

“I know,” She wraps her arms around him, holding him close. She speaks into his shoulder a bit,” Just seeing Matt and Jania, how they take everything, it’s scary.”

“Yeah,” Barry nods,” It’s awful, but right now there’s only one thing we can do to help them.”

“I can’t imagine what that little girl is going through,” Iris murmurs. She’d been taken by villains in the past. It’s the uncertainty that’s scariest. Barry would always save her, he’s promised her as much, but some twisted messed up part of her mind always wonders if this is going to be the time he doesn’t.

“Jania said she should still be asleep. Hopefully, she’s right and Emerald will sleep through all of this,” Barry hopes this for the little girl more than anything. He wouldn’t wish any of the nightmares they all experience on anyone, especially a child.

“Do you think we can trust them?” Iris asks, pulling back enough to see his face. Barry shakes his head, uncertain.

“This morning, I would have been firm in saying no. They kind of remind me of Hunter,” Iris shivers, partially from the cold, partially from the mention of Zoom,” But a lot of what they’ve said they’ve offered of their own free will. If they had something to hide, why tell us everything else?”

Iris absentmindedly plays with his hair,” true. I think I’m just afraid that we’re going to get burned again.”

“Nah,” Barry shakes his head,” I believe Matt when he said if they wanted to hurt us, they would have done it earlier. We need to trust them, especially if they’re putting a lot of trust into us.”

Iris nods. She hesitates before saying,” That photo they showed us earlier- their Earth’s version of us with our-their kids. Have you ever thought about…”

She trails off as she sees the absolute love and adoration in his eyes. His voice is soft,” Iris, I’d be lying if I said I haven’t thought that far. Right now I’m happy just being with you. Whatever the future holds, that’s what it holds. One day, hopefully soon, yeah, I want to call you my wife, instead of my fiancée, and the mother of my children. I want kids with you. But I’m going to appreciate what I have with you right here at this moment.”

Iris laughs a little and meets his gaze with the same love,” You know when we get married, you’re going to have a hell of a time figuring out your vows.”

Barry shrugs, laughing just the same. He leans down and kisses her. She relishes in the warmth that spreads through her body. How did she go so many years without kissing Barry Allen? He pulls away, just enough to rest his forehead on hers,” I should go suit up.”

“I think you have some time, Flash,” She recaptures his lips with hers. They stand there, completely wrapped in their bliss.

 

 


	4. What the Hell Did You Do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So one minor thing I want to mention for those who don't watch Young Justice. Artemis, Matt and Jania's mom, is half white, half Vietnamese. I have a personal head canon that she connected more with her Vietnamese roots as a way to stay close with her mom and this carried over with her kids. I'm bringing this up because Matt and Jania say something that's kinda their family motto.
> 
> The phrase is "Chậm mà chắc, Nhanh chóng và không chắc chắn"   
> Slow but sure, fast and uncertain

About twenty minutes later, everyone who’s fighting is in the Waverider. Matt and Jania look uncomfortable in their new uniforms, which makes a few of them want to laugh. They’d been so comfortable in their normal clothes, or lack thereof with their gym clothes, but the fitted Kevlar suits make them fidget. Sara had used the Waverider’s clothing machine to quickly make the suits. Matt wears a hoodless version of Barry and Wally’s suits, going with a mask like Jesse wears when she visits. Jania chose a croptop with the mask acting as a hood, her golden braid swinging over her quiver. What seems strange to them is the colors they two chose. Matt’s is a forest green, very close to Oliver’s suit. Jania’s top and knee-high boots are red. Her bottoms are bright yellow.

“You look stupid,” Mick tells them.

“Yeah, because we’re gonna take fashion advice from the man who fights in the same clothes he sleeps in,” Jania is counting her arrows. Oliver can see the colored shafts and carefully dived sections. Matt tucks a few knives Sara gave him into his boots.

“So what are your field names?” Jax asks.

“Don’t have any,” Matt tells him,” Never saw a point. Plus all the good speedster names were already taken.”

“You know,” Cisco butts in,” I could probably come up with something for both of you.”

“Thanks,” Jania laughs, putting her quiver on,” But my parents gave me a built in field name.”

“What’s that?” Cisco seems unsure.

“Diana,” Jania says with a smile,” It’s my middle name.”

“Jania Diana West?” Barry chuckles,” Now there’s a name.”

“This coming from the man named Bartholomew,” Jania scoffs. Barry holds his hands up in surrender, a smile on his face,” Our mom’s name is Artemis, like the Greek goddess. Diana is the Roman equivalent. Mom thought it was sweet. Dad thought it was funny.”

“You know that’s actually Mom and Dad in a nutshell. Dad wanted to name me Albert Isaac,” Matt snorts,” After Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton.”

“Really?” Sara asks,” Sounds like a huge dork.”

“He is,” Matt agrees,” But he’s also our dad. Thankfully Mom made him change it to Matthew Isaac. Has a good ring to it, don’t ya think?”

“You still need a field name,” Matt’s face turns a bright shade of red. Cisco narrows his eyes, more curious than angry,” You already have one, don’t you?”

“Something I thought of when I was a kid, it’s not good,” Matt mumbles. Jania leans back, a wicked smile on her face.

“Now you have to tell us,” Sara says. Matt’s face turns almost the same color as his hair as everyone looks at him.

“Speedforce,” He says after a minute. Everyone laughs,” I was like six when I got my powers. All the cool names were taken. Flash, Kid Flash, Impulse, The Tornado Twins. Mom wouldn’t let me call myself Speed.”

“Yeah, not calling you Speedforce. How about…” Cisco thinks for a second,” Velocity?”

“Velocity. I like it.”

“Velocity it is,” Barry says with an approving nod. Matt relaxes a little and smiles.

“Good, because we’re here,” Sara disguises the Waverider as she lands several piers over. They all gather their things. Jania holds her hand up to Matt.

“Chậm mà chắc,” She says proudly. Matt grips her raised hand with his own.

“Nhanh chóng và không chắc chắn,” He responds in the same voice. He pulls her close, resting his chin on top of her head,” See you on the other side, little sister.”

“You too, big brother.” She hugs him just as tightly. They break apart and she gives him an evil grin,” Now let’s go kick some ass.”

The second they leave the Waverider, Matt and Jania’s demeanor changes. They move with purpose. There’s no joy in their faces. The sudden change puts the others on edge, but they try not to think about it. Several goons mill around outside the front of the warehouse on Pier 38. Jania looks over at Oliver, her fingers gripping her bow tightly. He somehow understands and nods. The two fire smoke arrows at their feet, engulfing them in mist. Matt, Barry, and Wally go. They grab the men and women, knocking them out and quietly tying them up. Climbing up to a window on the second floor, Sara slips inside with Jania, the others waiting outside as back up. The two keep to the shadows, hiding behind a crate marked BAIT.

“Come on!” Stardust growls. Jania’s stomach rolls at the sight of Emerald, who is now awake and terrified. Her hands had been untied and she’s on the ground in front of him. She’s shaking like a leaf. Jania’s grip tightens on her bow, to the point where Sara thinks it might snap.

“I want Sopie!” She cries. Stardust isn’t having it. He pulls a gun out and aims it at her head. Emerald whimpers.

“You have three fucking seconds to show me what you can do before I shoot you dead, understand?” He puts his finger on the trigger,” One.”

“No-”

 “Two.”

“Please-”

“Th-” Jania fires an arrow straight through Stardust’s wrist. He screams in pain, the gun going off. Emerald rolls away The bullet hits the ground just behind her. Jania fires an arrow attached to a rope into the ceiling and slides down. Matt bursts into the room. Both run to Emerald.

“EM!” Matt shouts. The little girl runs towards them. Stardust recovers enough to grab her with his good hand. Jania aims another arrow at him, but a blast of fire knocks it from her hands. A lovely young woman comes in her hands ablaze.

“Who the hell are you two supposed to be?” Stardust asks. Emerald struggles in his grasp, her little hands held out for them.

“Your fucking worst nightmare, bitch,” The heroes that come in just behind them feel a chill run down their spines. Jania’s voice is icy and murderous.

“Get the others,” Stardust orders Ashley. Ashley hits an emergency button. Alarms go off everywhere.

“That cannot be good,” Firestorm grunts.

“Give us the girl,” Matt growls. Every muscle in his body is tight. Metas and mercenaries begin pouring in. Emerald cries out in pain as Stardust shoves her into one of them.

“Why would I do that? The little freak is going to make me rich,” He looks at his minions,” Kill them.”

Any promise Matt and Jania made to follow their lead is forgotten. As the heroes fight and disarm the metas and mercenaries, Matt and Jania make a clear path towards Emerald. Jania had picked up her bow, firing arrows into different people and using it to smash people in the face. The two are good fighters on their own, but together they’re lethal. They stand back to back surrounded by several guns. Linking arms, Matt spins in fast circles, Jania kicks all of the guns out of their hands and their faces. Jania rolls over him, spinning to kick Ashley square in the chest. Ashley cracks her neck.

“I’m gonna enjoy this,” She sets her hands ablaze. Matt steps towards her, ready to kick her ass, Jania waves him off.

“She’s mine,” Jania growls, lunging. She avoids the burning hands well. Matt makes his way to Emerald, dodging bullets, spikes, and other weird shit from the people around him. One meta grows a spike and sends it shooting at Matt like a spear. He hits the ground, sliding baseball style. The yell that fills the room makes him freeze for a second. Jania stumbles away from Ashley, the spike now embedded in her side. Blood winds down her side. Matt turns to the spiked meta. He runs and, for a second doesn’t care about anything, but making the man hurt. Ashley laughs as she follows Jania.

“Oh, poor baby. Let me help,” Ashley throws a fireball at Jania. Firestorm blasts it away with one of his own.

“Pick on someone with your own powers,” He throws another blast of fire at her. Ashley turns her attention Firestorm. Ray appears by Jania’s side.

“You ok?” His eyes widen as she pulls the spike from her side and tucks it into her quiver,” I don’t think you should have done that.”

“I heal fast,” Jania places her fingers in her mouth and gives a loud sharp whistle. Matt looks over, his hands bloody from punching the spiked meta over and over. Jania shouts, running towards him,” GET EMMY!”

Matt looks up and is only a hundred feet from her. He can get her. He knows he can. The battle is dying down around them, their side winning. Emerald’s scream of pain makes them freeze. Two metas hold her up between them. Stardust points another gun at her. His eyes land on Matt’s,” Tell your friends to stop or I’ll blow her brains out.”

The two have a silent showdown. Stardust’s goons pull Emerald’s arms and she cries out in pain again. She crying and trying to pull her arms away. Matt’s voice shakes,” Stand down.”

The heroes regrettably do so. Stardust looks over all of them, his eyes greedy,” You all will do nicely.”

Jania isn’t far from Stardust now. Maybe five yards. Both of them keeping their eyes locked on Emerald.

“Let her go,” Jania says,” We’ll do whatever you want, just let the girl go.”

“You’ll do what I want because I say so,” He adjusts his grip on the gun,” And I’m going to kill her so you remember it. You lot should get me twice as much as she could.”

Jania reaches for an arrow. Stardust turns the gun on her and fires. Everyone watches as her eyes widen, the sharp breath she takes, the bullet hitting her lower abdomen. She hadn’t been expecting it. Emerald screams as Jania falls to her knees,” GANJA!”

“SHUT UP, YOU LITTLE FREAK,” Stardust roars, turning the gun back to her. Jania presses her hand to her gut.

“Emmy,” Jania grunts,” It’s ok, baby. Close your eyes.”

Emerald squeezes her eyes shut. Matt doesn’t think. He reacts. As Stardust presses down on the trigger, Matt runs full speed at him. He grabs the man’s neck and rips it to one side. The crack it makes fills the whole room. His gun fires at one of the men holding Emerald. Matt pulls one of Sara’s knives from his boot and throws it at the second man. The knife embeds itself in his chest. Everything happens in less than a second. One moment, it looks like Stardust is going to win. Then three men are on the ground, all dead. Matt is frozen for a second, realization of what he’s done hitting him. Emerald sobs on the floor, curled up in a tight ball. He scoops her up, hugging her tightly, kissing her hair. He tells her everything is ok. He’s got her. She’s ok. He goes to Jania, who gives her brother a hard stare as he helps her up. Matt looks down in shame.

“Are you ok?” Nate asks as the three come over.

“Peachy,” Jania grunts, still pressing a hand to her wounds. Emerald has her face buried in Matt’s shoulder,” There’s probably others, downstairs.”

“The police are on their way,” Barry catches Jania as she stumbles forward. Blood covers her sides. He picks her up bridal style because no way can she walk,” We need to get you medical attention.”

            “Let’s get back to Waverider. Gideon can fix her up.” No one speaks to Matt. Not because they don’t want to, but because his attention is focused on Emerald. He sits by Jania in the med bay, rocking the little girl. Her sobs turned into hiccups that eventually stop. He strokes her curls, humming softly. Jania doesn’t think much as Gideon, the ship’s AI patches her up.

            “Matt,” Oliver is the one to break the quiet,” Can we speak with you?”

            “Yeah,” Matt hands Emerald to Jania,” Emmy, baby, I have to go talk to these people. You stay here with Jania.”

            “Are you in trouble?” Her green eyes are tinted red from her tears.

            “Yeah, a little, but it’s ok,” He presses a kiss to her forehead,” I love you.”

            “I love you too.” She says back. Jania pulls Emerald close.

            Matt follows Oliver, Sara, and Barry to the cargo bay. He turns on them,” I don’t regret doing it.”

            “You killed three men-” Oliver starts.

            “I’m sorry, did you miss the part where they shot my little sister? Or the gun they were pointing at the three-year-old?” Matt demands. Sara notices the uncertainty in his eyes. Matt’s killed before, that she’s sure of, but he doesn’t like it. It’s not the first time, but it hits him just as hard.

            “That doesn’t change what you did,” Sara tells him,” Life is sacred.”

            “Said the Assassin,” Matt growls,” You think I don’t understand what I did? I do. I keep playing the scene on repeat because maybe there was something I could have done differently. Maybe there was another option. I don’t know. I don’t know, but I have to live with what I did. I killed three people and it is the worst feeling in the world. But I did it for them.”

            He points in the general direction of the med bay,” I did it to protect them. I did it for the men and women that bastard took and sold for a profit. The people he’s killed without a second thought. If that means I have his blood on my hands, fine. I’ll take that responsibility. But right now, I have to do what’s best for my family.”

            “Your family?” Sara raises and eyebrow. It’s crossed a few of their minds just how much Emerald looks like his girlfriend, but the hair was off. Matt yells in frustration, kicking a crate. His foot leaves a dent in the metal.

            “She’s not my kid!” He roars at no one in particular,” But she’s someone I love, someone I will kill for in order to protect her. So no matter what universe I am in, no matter what I have to do, they are my family. And I will always do what’s best for them, everyone else be damned.”


	5. What are you capable of?

About twenty minutes later, everyone who’s fighting is in the Waverider. Matt and Jania look uncomfortable in their new uniforms, which makes a few of them want to laugh. They’d been so comfortable in their normal clothes, or lack thereof with their gym clothes, but the fitted Kevlar suits make them fidget. Sara had used the Waverider’s clothing machine to quickly make the suits. Matt wears a hoodless version of Barry and Wally’s suits, going with a mask like Jesse wears when she visits. Jania choose a croptop with the mask acting as a hood, her golden braid swinging over her quiver. What seems strange to them is the colors they two chose. Matt’s is a forest green, very close to Oliver’s suit. Jania’s top and knee-high boots are red. Her bottoms are bright yellow.  
“You look stupid,” Mick tells them.  
“Yeah, because we’re gonna take fashion advice from the man who fights in the same clothes he sleeps in,” Jania is counting her arrows. Oliver can see the colored shafts and carefully dived sections. Matt tucks a few knives Sara gave him into his boots.  
“So what are your field names?” Jax asks.  
“Don’t have any,” Matt tells him,” Never saw a point. Plus all the good speedster names were already taken.”  
“You know,” Cisco butts in,” I could probably come up with something for both of you.”  
“Thanks,” Jania laughs, putting her quiver on,” But my parents gave me a built in field name.”  
“What’s that?” Cisco seems unsure.  
“Diana,” Jania says with a smile,” It’s my middle name.”  
“Jania Diana West?” Barry chuckles,” Now there’s a name.”  
“This coming from the man named Bartholomew,” Jania scoffs. Barry holds his hands up in surrender, a smile on his face,” Our mom’s name is Artemis, like the Greek goddess. Diana is the Roman equivalent. Mom thought it was sweet. Dad thought it was funny.”  
“You know that’s actually Mom and Dad in a nutshell. Dad wanted to name me Albert Isaac,” Matt snorts,” After Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton.”  
“Really?” Sara asks,” Sounds like a huge dork.”  
“He is,” Matt agrees,” But he’s also our dad. Thankfully Mom made him change it to Matthew Isaac. Has a good ring to it, don’t ya think?”  
“You still need a field name,” Matt’s face turns a bright shade of red. Cisco narrows his eyes, more curious than angry,” You already have one, don’t you?”  
“Something I thought of when I was a kid, it’s not good,” Matt mumbles. Jania leans back, a wicked smile on her face.  
“Now you have to tell us,” Sara says. Matt’s face turns almost the same color as his hair as everyone looks at him.  
“Speedforce,” He says after a minute. Everyone laughs,” I was like six when I got my powers. All the cool names were taken. Flash, Kid flash, Impulse, The Tornado Twins. Mom wouldn’t let me call myself Speed.”  
“Yeah, not calling you Speedforce. How about…” Cisco thinks for a second,” Velocity?”  
“Velocity. I like it.”  
“Velocity it is,” Barry says with an approving nod. Matt relaxes a little and smiles.  
“Good, because we’re here,” Sara disguises the Waverider as she lands several piers over. They all gather their things. Jania holds her hand up to Matt.  
“Chậm mà chắc,” She says proudly. Matt grips her raised hand with his own.  
“Nhanh chóng và không chắc chắn,” He responds in the same voice. He pulls her close, resting his chin on top of her head,” See you on the other side, little sister.”  
“You too, big brother.” She hugs him just as tightly. They break apart and she gives him an evil grin,” Now let’s go kick some ass.”  
The second they leave the Waverider, Matt and Jania’s demeanor changes. They move with purpose. There’s no joy in their faces. The sudden change puts the others on edge, but they try not to think about it. Several goons mill around outside the front of the warehouse on pier 38. Jania looks over at Oliver, her fingers gripping her bow tightly. He somehow understands and nods. The two fire smoke arrows at their feet, engulfing them in mist. Matt, Barry, and Wally go. They grab the men and women, knocking them out and quietly tying them up. Climbing up to a window on the second floor, Sara slips inside with Jania, the others waiting outside as back up. The two keep to the shadows, hiding behind a crate marked BAIT.  
“Come on!” Stardust growls. Jania’s stomach rolls at the sight of Emerald, who is now awake and terrified. Her hands had been untied and she’s on the ground in front of him. She’s shaking like a leaf. Jania’s grip tightens on her bow, to the point where Sara thinks it might snap.  
“I want Sopie!” She cries. Stardust isn’t having it. He pulls a gun out and aims it at her head. Emerald whimpers.  
“You have three fucking seconds to show me what you can do before I shoot you dead, understand?” He puts his finger on the trigger,” One.”  
“No-”  
“Two.”  
“Please-”  
“Th-” Jania fires an arrow straight through Stardust’s wrist. He screams in pain, the gun going off. Emerald rolls away The bullet hits the ground just behind her. Jania fires an arrow attached to a rope into the ceiling and slides down. Matt bursts into the room. Both run to Emerald.  
“EM!” Matt shouts. The little girl runs towards them. Stardust recovers enough to grab her with his good hand. Jania aims another arrow at him, but a blast of fire knocks it from her hands. A lovely young woman comes in, her hands ablaze.  
“Who the hell are you two supposed to be?” Stardust asks. Emerald struggles in his grasp, her little hands held out for them.  
“Your fucking worst nightmare, bitch,” The heroes that come in just behind them feel a chill run down their spines. Jania’s voice is icy and murderous.  
“Get the others,” Stardust orders Ashley. Ashley hits an emergency button. Alarms go off everywhere.  
“That cannot be good,” Firestorm grunts.  
“Give us the girl,” Matt growls. Every muscle in his body is tight. Metas and mercenaries begin pouring in. Emerald cries out in pain as Stardust shoves her into one of them.  
“Why would I do that? The little freak is going to make me rich,” He looks at his minions,” Kill them.”  
Any promise Matt and Jania made to follow their lead is forgotten. As the heroes fight and disarm the metas and mercenaries, Matt and Jania make a clear path towards Emerald. Jania had picked up her bow, firing arrows into different people and using it to smash people in the face. The two are good fighters on their own, but together they’re lethal. They stand back to back surrounded by several guns. Linking arms, Matt spins in fast circles, Jania kicks all of the guns out of their hands and their faces. Jania rolls over him, spinning to kick Ashley square in the chest. Ashley cracks her neck.  
“I’m gonna enjoy this,” She sets her hands ablaze. Matt steps towards her, ready to kick her ass, Jania waves him off.  
“She’s mine.” Jania growls, lunging. She avoids the burning hands well. Matt makes his way to Emerald, dodging bullets, spikes, and other weird shit from the people around him. One meta grows a spike and sends it shooting at Matt like a spear. He hits the ground, sliding baseball style. The yell that fills the room makes him freeze for a second. Jania stumbles away from Ashley, the spike now embedded in her side. Blood winds down her side. Matt turns to the spiked meta. He runs and, for a second doesn’t care about anything, but making the man hurt. Ashley laughs as she follows Jania.  
“Oh, poor baby. Let me help,” Ashley throws a fireball at Jania. Firestorm blasts it away with one of his own.  
“Pick on someone with your own powers,” He throws another blast of fire at her. Ashley turns her attention Firestorm. Ray appears by Jania’s side.  
“You ok?” His eyes widen as she pulls the spike from her side and tucks it into her quiver,” I don’t think you should have done that.”  
“I heal fast,” Jania places her fingers in her mouth and gives a loud sharp whistle. Matt looks over, his hands bloody from punching the spiked meta over and over. Jania shouts, running towards him,” GET EMMY!”  
Matt looks up and is only a hundred feet from her. He can get her. He knows he can. The battle is dying down around them, their side winning. Emerald’s scream of pain makes them freeze. Two metas hold her up between them. Stardust points another gun at her. His eyes land on Matt’s,” Tell your friends to stop or I’ll blow her brains out.”  
The two have a silent showdown. Stardust’s goons pull Emerald’s arms and she cries out in pain again. She crying and trying to pull her arms away. Matt’s voice shakes,” Stand down.”  
The heroes regrettably do so. Stardust looks over all of them, his eyes greedy,” You all will do nicely.”  
Jania isn’t far from Stardust now. Maybe five yards. Both of them keeping their eyes locked on Emerald.  
“Let her go,” Jania says,” We’ll do whatever you want, just let the girl go.”  
“You’ll do what I want because I say so,” He adjusts his grip on the gun,” And I’m going to kill her so you remember it. You lot should get me twice as much as she could.”  
Jania reaches for an arrow. Stardust turns the gun on her and fires. Everyone watches as her eyes widen, the sharp breath she takes, the bullet hitting her lower abdomen. She hadn’t been expecting it. Emerald screams as Jania falls to her knees,” GANJA!”  
“SHUT UP, YOU LITTLE FREAK,” Stardust roars, turning the gun back to her. Jania presses her hand to her gut.  
“Emmy,” Jania grunts,” It’s ok, baby. Close your eyes.”  
Emerald squeezes her eyes shut. Matt doesn’t think. He reacts. As Stardust presses down on the trigger, Matt runs full speed at him. He grabs the man’s neck and rips it to one side. The crack it makes fills the whole room. His gun fires at one of the men holding Emerald. Matt pulls one of Sara’s knives from his boot and throws it at the second man. The knife embeds itself in his chest. Everything happens in less than a second. One moment, it looks like Stardust is going to win. Then three men are on the ground, all dead. Matt is frozen for a second, realization of what he’s done hitting him. Emerald sobs on the floor, curled up in a tight ball. He scoops her up, hugging her tightly, kissing her hair. He tells her everything is ok. He’s got her. She’s ok. He goes to Jania, who gives her brother a hard stare as he helps her up. Matt looks down in shame.  
“Are you ok?” Nate asks as the three come over.  
“Peachy,” Jania grunts, still pressing a hand to her wounds. Emerald has her face buried in Matt’s shoulder,” There’s probably others, downstairs.”  
“The police are on their way,” Barry catches Jania as she stumbles forward. Blood covers her sides. He picks her up bridal style, because no way can she walk,” We need to get you medical attention.”  
“Let’s get back to Waverider. Gideon can fix her up.” No one speaks to Matt. Not because they don’t want to, but because his attention is focused on Emerald. He sits by Jania in the med bay, rocking the little girl. Her sobs turn into hiccups that eventually stop. He strokes her curls, humming softly. Jania doesn’t think much as Gideon, the ship’s AI, patches her up.  
“Matt,” Oliver is the one to break the quiet,” Can we speak with you?”  
“Yeah,” Matt hands Emerald to Jania,” Emmy, baby, I have to go talk to these people. You stay here with Jania.”  
“Are you in trouble?” Her green eyes are tinted red from her tears.  
“Yeah, a little, but it’s ok,” He presses a kiss to her forehead,” I love you.”  
“I love you too.” She says back. Jania pulls Emerald close.  
Matt follows Oliver, Sara, and Barry to the cargo bay. He turns on them,” I don’t regret doing it.”  
“You killed three men-” Oliver starts.  
“I’m sorry, did you miss the part where they shot my little sister? Or the gun they were pointing at the three year old?” Matt demands. Sara notices the uncertainty in his eyes. Matt’s killed before, that she’s sure of, but he doesn’t like it. It’s not the first time, but it hits him just as hard.  
“That doesn’t change what you did,” Sara tells him,” Life is sacred.”  
“Said the assassin,” Matt growls,” You think I don’t understand what I did? I do. I keep playing the scene on repeat because maybe there was something I could have done differently. Maybe there was another option. I don’t know. I don’t know, but I have to live with what I did. I killed three people and it is the worst feeling in the world. But I did it for them.”  
He points in the general direction of the med bay,” I did it to protect them. I did it for the men and women that bastard took and sold for a profit. The people he’s killed without a second thought. If that means I have his blood on my hands, fine. I’ll take that responsibility. But right now, I have to do what’s best for my family.”  
“Your family?” Sara raises and eyebrow. It’s crossed a few of their minds just how much Emerald looks like his girlfriend, but the hair was off. Matt yells in frustration, kicking a crate. His foot leaves a dent in the metal.  
“She’s not my kid!” He roars at no one in particular,” But she’s someone I love, someone I will kill for in order to protect her. So no matter what universe I am in, no matter what I have to do, they are my family. And I will always do what’s best for them, everyone else be damned.”


	6. What happened?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my loves! I'm so sorry about the silence. I have two jobs and go to school full time. I also go into a new set of characters so I'm probably going to upload all these chapters and then up load some one shots I wrote for the other characters. Will decide later.

The Waverider comes to a stop and the cargo doors open. Matt’s gone before any of them can say anything to him. Barry goes to follow, but Oliver stops him,” Let him go.”  
“Oliver,” Barry begins to protest.  
“He needs time and we have other issues.” Sara tells him,” I’m sure he’ll be fine.”  
Ray helps Jania walk into the hanger. She’d insisted she’s ok, but then she’d collapsed after changing her clothes. Suddenly she accepted some help. Emerald holds Amaya’s hand. When Amaya had come into the med bay to check on them, Emerald complemented her amulet. The two got into a very quick conversation, Emerald interested in everything Amaya told her. Iris relaxes when she sees Barry, Cisco, and Wally are ok.  
“How’d it go?” She asks Barry, hugging him tightly. He takes a second to relish in her warmth. Ray helps Jania sit down in one of the chairs.  
“Good,” Barry smiles at her. Iris smiles back, happy he’s ok,” We-I’ll tell you everything later.”   
She nods, and looks at the newest person in the room. Emerald stands by Jania’s side. Her big green eyes take in everyone. Her long red hair curls wildly around her tiny frame. She’s completely terrified. Iris kneels down, smiling kindly at the little girl,” Hi, you must be Emerald.”  
“Yes, ma’am,” Her fingers curl into Jania’s chair,” But most people call me Emmy.”  
“Emmy, I like it. My name’s Iris.”   
“Ganja has an aunt named Iris,” Her voice is soft and warm. The words seem just a little off, like English isn’t her first language.  
“Well, that’s kind of hard to explain,” Iris looks up at Barry. Jania chuckles.  
“Emmy, do you remember what Matt and I told you about the theory of the multiverse?” She asks.  
“It’s a theory that there are multiple versions of our Earth,” Emmy answers, stunning almost everyone,” each vibrates at a different fekency-”  
“Frequency, sweet girl,” Jania corrects gently.  
“Fre-quen-cy,” Emmy repeats,” So the earths do not mix together.”  
“That’s right,” Jania smooths a curl from Emmy’s eyes,” This is one of those earths. These are technically my Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry. Don’t worry too much about it, okay?”  
“Remarkable,” Stein, now separated from Jax,” Someone her age shouldn’t be able to understand something so complex.”  
“I understand lots of things,” Emmy pouts, wrinkling her nose indignantly. A few of them hide a smile.  
“I’m sure you do, my dear, but advance science-” Jania gives Stein a gentle, but firm look to cut him off.  
“Hey, Emmy,” Jania winces as she lifts Emmy up to sit on the table,” Since you understand lots of things, riddle me this. Do you know how you got here?”  
“Mommy and Daddy loved each other very much.” Emerald doesn’t finish the sentence. A few of them laugh. Emerald looks confused.  
“Not what I meant, baby,” Jania laughs,” though I think we’ve used that joke around you a little too much. I mean do you know how you got to this earth?”  
“Kinda,” She answers.   
“Can you tell me what you remember,” Jania’s voice is the softest and kindest they’ve heard all day. Her eyes don’t leave the little girl. Emerald screws her face up as she tries to remember.  
“I wasn’t feeling good. My head was hurting and my belly felt like ick. I told Sopie and Lala. They gave me some medicine and Sopie tucked me in bed. I wasn’t sleepy yet so I was looking out the window. Then I heard a noise.”  
“What noise?” Joe asks. Emmy looks at him apprehensively.  
“This is Joe, Miss Iris’s daddy. He’s a detective,” Jania tells her gently.   
“The sound Map makes.”  
“The sound a map makes?” Barry asks.  
“No, Map,” Emmy clarifies, then points at Jania,” Ganja’s big brother.”  
Oh, Matt. They nod in understand and she continues,” I heard that and got excited. Map’s been gone for a long time and I really, really missed him. He tells the best bedtime stories. When I looked it wasn’t Map. It was the bad man.”  
“What did the bad man look like?” Joe asks.  
“He was really tall and scary. He had on a yellow suit, I think. The medicine was making me sleepy.”  
“Did he say anything?” Joe presses gently. She nods,” Do you remember what he said?”  
“You’ll do nicely.” The words send chills down their spines,” Then he grabbed me. I fell asleep after that. I’m sorry.”  
“You did great,” Joe gives her a reassuring smile. She smiles back.  
“Emmy, how long were you awake before we got there?” Jania asks.  
“Only a few minutes,” She smiles at Jania,” I knew you’d save me. You always save me.”  
Jania smiles, a few tears in her eyes. She pulls Emmy into her lap, wrapping her arms around the little girl as tightly as she can,” Yes, we will. Always, always, always.”  
The little girl presses her cheek against the archer’s neck, smiling happily. Jania isn’t smiling anymore, her eyes squeezed shut as she hugs the girl. Emerald pulls away first, Jania kisses her face all over, making Emmy giggle. Jania tickles her belly. The sound of laughter echoes around the room. Emerald manages to escape her grasp, flying up into the air. Jania smiles up at her.  
“That’s cheating,” Jania teases. Emerald flips upside down, sticking her tongue out. Her long red curls fall down towards the ground.  
“She flies!” HR exclaims.  
“We told you that earlier.” Jania points out.  
“Seeing is believing,” Iris says.  
“So, before you found out about Barry being the Flash, would you have ever believed that he could run that fast?”  
“Well, if it weren’t for his high school athletic abilities, possibly.” Everyone laughs at Barry’s red face.  
“Good to know that’s multiversal too.” Jania laughs,” Emmy flies when she’s happy.”  
“Kenne ma naka semche oraaang me,” Emerald says. The words come easier than English,” Mar’i chech pragnem lokereme.”  
“What’s she saying?” Cisco asks Jania.  
“To be completely honest, I have no idea.”  
“You said you speak 193 languages!” He exclaims.  
“Tamaranian isn’t one of them. It’s not like German, Russian, Martian, Atlanitan, Ukrainian, et cetra.” She shrugs,” Em, we can’t understand you.”  
“Sorry,” She flips back onto her belly, not caring about the hair that now falls in her face,” I said, I like to fly when I’m happy. Sopie has a hard time when she’s stressed.”  
“You said Marie.” HR points out.  
“That’s Sopie’s real name. Sopie doesn’t translate in Tamaranian. It means star.”  
“Marie is the French version of Mary,” Cisco says. Emerald’s nose wrinkles.  
“Not Mah-REE,” she pronounces,” It’s MUH-ree. It’s spelled different.”  
“M-A-R- apostrophe- I,” Jania spells,” Soph’s first name is Tamaranian, not English. More emphasis on the first half than the second. Very touchy subject for the Grayson kids.”  
“It isn’t hard,” Emerald pouts. Barry might be crazy, but he swears he sees Oliver smirk just a bit. Jania shifts a bit, grabbing her side,” Are you ok? I saw the bad man shoot you.”  
Everyone who hadn’t been there immediately stares at everyone who had been. This little girl saw someone get shot. Yet she doesn’t seem shocked or fazed. How much violence had she seen in her young age? Jania gives her a tense smile,” I’m fine, baby. I promise.”  
“What about Map? Is he in trouble?” She looks at Oliver and Barry this time.  
“Don’t worry about, Emmy,” Oliver tells her. She frowns and sinks back down to the table. She meets Oliver’s eyes. There’s something awful about the seriousness on her face.  
“That’s what grownups say when we should worry. Did he do something bad?” She asks,” Is someone dead?”  
None of them have an answer for her.  
“Hey,” Jania’s voice is soft but frim,” Don’t think about that. Matt did his job tonight. Ok. You understand what that means, right?” The little girl nods,” He had to make some choices. They weren’t good choices, but he made them. He needs time to think about what happened. Ok?”  
“Yes, ma’am,” Emerald nods. She squirms,” Are the bad men going to hurt more people?”  
“No,” Matt comes up the platform. He’s changed back into his street clothes. There’s something different about him. He doesn’t smile,” They won’t hurt anyone ever again.  
Emerald immediately flies into his arms,” Map! You’re ok! That didn’t take long!”  
“Hi, sweet girl,” He holds her tight. His eyes meet Jania’s,” How are you, sis?”  
“Aside from some new kickass scars, I’m good,” She pauses,” You?”  
He ignores the question, looking back at Emmy,” When was the last time you ate?”  
“I had lunch earlier today. My belly felt icky afterwards.” They hear a low grumbling. Matt chuckles.  
“Why don’t we see if we can’t find you some food? Huh?” Matt pushes a few stray locks of hair from her face,” How does that sound?”  
“I think we have some protein bars around here.” Cisco says.  
“Awesome, I could use a snack myself.” Matt adjust Emerald so she rests on his hip.  
“Here,” Jania winces as she pulls her silver bag from her quiver,” There should be some jammies in there for her. I put the outfit she was wearing earlier in an evidence bag.”  
“Really?” Matt asks,” Given how much contact she’s had with us after-”  
“They’ll be able to pull something from her stuff. It should be fine.” Matt nods. He follows Cisco to the food. Emerald’s voice fades away. Jania stands, lifting her shirt to look at her stomach. The bullet wound looks horrible, but it’s closed.  
“Are you ok?!” Iris asks.  
“Fine. Not my first time at the wrong end of a 9 millimeter,” She rubs the wound,” So Thawne wasn’t there. Now that Strauss is dead, he’s going to be laying low.”  
“Strauss is dead?” Felicity looks at Oliver. Jania shifts uncomfortably.  
“There were a lot of factors-”  
“Matt killed him, didn’t he?” Felicity interrupts.   
Jania doesn’t meet their eyes. She looks down at her hands,” He made bad choices. Sometimes those are the only options you have.”  
“He killed someone-“  
“Who wouldn’t have hesitated to kill any of us.”  
“That doesn’t excuse what happened-“  
“I know. But he made his choices and I am too tired to think of how to defend him.”  
“Too tired to think-”  
“Dude, “For the first time, Jania sounds exasperated,” I have been tested on for two weeks. Just today, I’ve been sent to a different dimension. I was tested on more. I was interrogated. I had an arm shoved through my chest. I had to save someone who I consider my little sister from a man ready to kill us. My best friend is probably crying her eyes out. My brother is shutting down. I was shot with both a bullet and a spike. I have been running for 34 hours straight on less than ten minutes of sleep, which isn’t a lot even for me. I don’t want to do anything right now.”  
She finally looks her age. She’s seemed more like someone in their early twenties but now, with her hair falling out of it’s braid, she seems likes a high schooler. Her eyes are heavy and the bags underneath are far too prominent. Her clothes are old and covered in stains that could be food or paint or blood. When was the last time she got a good night’s sleep? One without terror? When was the last time she had a day when she didn’t worry about making it to tomorrow? She’s so young. Too young to be in this fight.  
“You, Emmy, and Matt can spend the night with us on the Waverider,” Sara offers,” The temporal zone should keep you out of Thawne hands for the night.”  
“Sounds good,” Oliver agrees,” We can regroup tomorrow and come up with a plan.”  
“Awesome,” Jania says. She stretches her arms up, wincing at the movement in her lower abdomen. She hesitates before saying,” Look, about what Matt did. Chances are, he didn’t want to. He hates when...we don’t like killing. We’ve had enough death in our lives.”  
“Ganja,” Emmy calls out. Jania gives them a small smile and goes to find her.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think! I've had a lot of fun writing this!


End file.
